Browsed byCategory: Futurism

I first wondered this while watching the second series of The Fall, a challenging and unapolegetically feminist take on the now-standard serial killer drama. In it, a handsome and fit man by the name of Paul Spector routinely stalks and murders women — in between making appointments as a certified bereavement counselor, going on date nights with his wife, and looking after his two children, ages eight and six. His foe is Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, an empowered take on…

The Sony hack is interesting to me on a lot of levels. One, because mine was a Sony family. My dad kept our Betamax alive until I was in university. In fact, we still have two at home — my boyfriend at the time bought us another so dad could complete his editorial projects, like mashing together a perfect cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind that included both the Gobi Desert sequence and both endings. Yeah. We were…

The week spent writing the comic, that is. The comic might not be that great. It’s hard for me to tell. But I had a great time writing it. A while back, some people at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination asked me to participate in the new phase of EVOKE, a transmedia experience produced by the WorldBank to teach young people about social innovation. EVOKE can take the form of a comic book, a web game,…

You’re probably tired of hearing me bang on about the Hieroglyph anthology. But one of the reasons I’ve talked about it and promoted it so tirelessly is because I had a great time participating in it. A large part of my enjoyment had to do with the talent, patience, and confidence of my editor, Kathryn Cramer. When I was procrastinating because I was afraid of “not being optimistic enough,” or “not living up to Neal’s vision,” or “not accomplishing the…

Here’s an excerpt of my story, “By the Time We Get to Arizona,” at io9, where readers there have correctly identified the Public Enemy reference in the title. Mariposa sat in the space once occupied solely by tarantulas and the rocks they hid under. It sat half on one side, half on the other. They’d dropped it just west of the Nogales-Hermosillo highway like a flat-pack explosive device. It was still in the process of unfolding itself, Tab A into…

In addition to the Hieroglyph anthology events I’m doing in NYC and DC this month, I’ll also be at Bakka-Phoenix Books in Toronto this Saturday, the 13th, at 3pm to launch the book locally with my pal and fellow contributor Karl Schroeder. The book actually comes out tomorrow, 9 September, so there will be plenty of copies if you’d like them signed. If you’d like to read more about the anthology, check out this BBC piece on the subject: Konstantinou…

If you’re in NYC or DC this fall and you like SF like I like acronyms, we might run into each other. September 30, I’ll be in conversation with Elizabeth Bear and Ed Finn at Tumblr HQ in Manhattan about The Hieroglyph Anthology. Project Hieroglyph, inspired by Neal Stephenson and headquartered at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination, aims to rekindle our grand ambitions for the future by bringing together top science fiction authors with scientists, engineers…

So, this is a conversation between Ramez Naam and I about our respective books. Weirdly we were both on the same coast when this interview happened, but still had to do the interview over email because of flight schedules. It turned out pretty well, though, because when we hung out at the annual World Future Society conference in Orlando, I felt like I knew him a little better. Snip: Ramez: A lot of people are worried today that robots are…

Madeline Ashby has worked with Intel Labs, the Institute for the Future, SciFutures, Nesta, Data & Society, The Atlantic Council, the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, Changeist, and others. She has spoken at SXSW, FutureEverything, MozFest, and other events. Her essays have appeared at BoingBoing, io9, WorldChanging, Creators Project, Arcfinity, MISC Magazine, and FutureNow. Her fiction has appeared in Slate, MIT Tech Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of the Machine Dynasty novels. Her novel Company Town was a Canada Reads finalist.